RIAA President Backs Off Of Legislative Fight With ISPs

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Wow, consider us shocked. A few days after U2 manager Paul McGuinness called out ISPs to step up their efforts to monitor piracy, RIAA president Cary Sherman has come out saying it's not necessary for the government to pass any laws requiring that. "We're much more interested in finding a marketplace way of going about this," he said at an Internet policy conference yesterday.

Since we've never known the RIAA to back down from a fight over piracy, we've got three theories on why Sherman is reluctant to engage legislators on this issue.

1. He already sees that ISPs are moving towards a piracy crackdown and doesn't wish to give ISPs any reason to stop and fight a legal mandate.

2. Relatedly, telecoms have one of the strongest lobbying force in Washington D.C., and why pick a fight you probably won't win?

3. Sherman is reluctant to open up the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which has been favorable to the industry in court battles, for any sort of tinkering.